Could I have jumped the date gun?

My hubby and I are new to the BP breeding world and with our 6 year normal who was bred with our pewter and spider with seen locks we thought we saw all the signs and with her shed on dec 4 we had thought this was her pos. But after looking at her and with her tail suck awhile ago it looks like she might be shedding in the next few days. So after going over some info we believe that after this shed we should have eggs in 25 - 30 days. So basically when we thought she was going to lay it was actually us feeling her folicles and her building then the tail suck showing us that she finally ovulated. If I'm wrong feel free to let me know since this is so new to me, but fun lol. Here are a few pictures from today, the wet newspaper is from us moving the tub and she also likes to move her water bowl.

http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps54e5d799.jpg
http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...psa8acc1a1.jpghttp://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps0e06891f.jpg

And this pic below is of her tail suck we saw on Jan 3, 2013.
http://i967.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps06a02689.jpg

When did she ovulate? When did you start pairing?

From the info I've been reading from http://www.ballpython.ca/gallery/breeding.html It looks like she ovulated Jan 3, 2013. And she was paired last year with the pewter before we bought them both, she's had 3 clutches before with the previous owner. And we started pairing her with the pewter again and the male spider in the begining of October.

Also, when my husband checked her earlier she was soaking a bit in her water dish.

She wouldn't be coiled up like that during ovulation, they stretch out and it looks like they ate a nerph foot ball. That isn't what I would call a tail suck either. It looks like all the fat in their tail was sucked out, not bulging like they have to poo/lay.

I would say she is building especially since she is soaking in the water bowl. People mistake building for ovulation all the time. They look huge and sometimes lumpy.

I'm very new to breeding as well but to me it looks like she might be in the building stage still.. Keep pairing them..

I just took a peak at her and she is still soaking in her water dish. I'm still somewhat confused though, we can feel the eggs. Will she lay eggs for us soon or our we just getting excited over nothing :(

Your most likely feeling follicles, not eggs..

Ok then :) So if she is soaking and she does look like she will be shedding soon, would this shed be her pos then? And should we put our male with her until she sheds?

Ok found some pictures for you

My girl building, notice how huge she looks, including close to her tail
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...eeding/004.jpg

Same girl ovulating, notice how her tail looks like all the fat was sucked out of it, the lump is higher in the body, not near the vent, she an extreme example. I believe this picture was about a month after the first one
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...ding/035-1.jpg

And here is a girl that laid 1-2 days after this picture. Notice how the eggs visibly move down towards her tail. The first half of her body is thin, the rest is massive
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...Isis/013-8.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nimph28

Ok then :) So if she is soaking and she does look like she will be shedding soon, would this shed be her pos then? And should we put our male with her until she sheds?

---

I'll be the first to admit I've never bred my balls...but I did purchase a possibly gravid female yesterday, so I'm on the lookout for building behavior. I've done my reading and I've discovered that pre-ovulation sheds can be quite unreliable. Sometimes they can easily be mistaken for normal shed cycles. However, if your girl did just recently shed and is going back into shed, then this upcoming shed could be your pre-ovulation shed.

Also, you can keep pairing until the pair don't show interest in each other or until she ovulates. Good luck!